What happens with recycled materials?

As you have read in our past post on this blog, I have been spending a lot of emphasis on recycled materials as an opportunity for donations for charities. The amount paid for all types of recyclables has dropped drastically in the past 4 months. This is not all bad! While prices were high, thousands of little start-up recycling businesses were popping up just to make a quick buck on the opportunity. Just like any financial trend, it is those who have a long-term vision and are willing to plan for the long haul that will succeed. Now that the price of recyclables has dropped many of these overnight businesses have closed their doors so the opportunity for charities is to position themselves to receive recyclable when the markets rebound.

Here is a fascinating utube video that will show you the recycle process.



How does a charity position itself?

#1 Regularly mention in your newsletters to your donor base about your ability to receive noncash donations such as cars (running or not), jewelry, collectibles, business inventory and recyclables. It will take several months of continuing to remind your donor base of these types of opportunities until you will see noncash donations being offered.
#2 Consider using media outlets such as billboard space, radio spots or newsprint. If you are a public charity, many times media outlets and billboard companies will offer public service advertising for free for charities when space is available. One thing to remember, you get what you pay for! If you want good ad space or good radio spots or good billboards, you will need to pay for it.
#3 Talk about noncash donation whenever you are speaking with your donors. This especially holds true when talking with board members, major donors, core donors and anyone interested in supporting your charity. The idea of noncash donations is very viral and as you tell as many people whom you have influence with, they will tell the people they know and before you know it, you will have a regular stream of noncash donations to supplement your cash donor base.

One of the neat things about noncash donations whether they are recyclables, unused items or overstock, the donation is usually a win win for the donor and the recipient charity. Always remember that www.idonate.com is always there to help liquidate noncash donations. They are also there to advise in what donations you should or should not receive. Please go to their web site www.idonate.com to learn more or you can give them a call at 913-538-7850. You can subscribe to a noncash donations web site giving link for $45 per month that will allow your donors to offer noncash donations and they will be able to assess and liquidate the donations while allowing your charity to monitor the progress and give input where needed.